After spending almost two days with some friends near Lansing, Michigan, I continued my drive to C-stone, arriving around 2 p.m. local time, on Monday, July 3. Even though the official start of the festival wasn't until Wednesday morning, attendees could register as early as 8 a.m. that morning. Free CD's were to be given away to the first 5000 to register; I didn't get a CD; ergo, a bunch of people had already arrived by the time I got there.
Again, I set up camp near the Main Stage. In 1996, I was at the top of the hill along the tree line up from the Main Stage. Last year, my brother Paul and I were along the same tree line, but only about half way up the hill. This year, same locale, a little bit further down the hill.
I really don't like setting up and taking down tents, so I parked my car perpendicularly to the trees, forming an angular wall, and spread a tarp over my site to keep dry. I had brought some long wooden stakes, rope, and bungee cords, but it probably took 3 hours to get a decent, reliable camp site in order. It would have been easier to set up a tent. However, in spite of the spartan arrangement, the Lord kept me dry through the several rain storms, as I slept in the open on a raised cot.
Besides setting up camp on Monday, I really don't recollect having done much else. Tuesday was still a pre-fest day, but they had a bunch of Tooth & Nail bands there. Among others, I did see Joy Electric (for the first time) perform a live set. They had a drummer doing the beats with a regular drums set; Jeff Cloud did live synthesizer stuff, and Ronnie Martin sang. There was another guy involved, but I couldn't tell what he was doing (bass? I forget). Notably, they performed "Drum Machine Joy", which, according to Ronnie, was to be their final live performance of that song.
As usual, I attended a few seminars and checked out a few bands, but my main purpose for being there was to give away copies of the new moron CD, tree hugger. But there were a few notable performances worth mentioning. These all happened on Thursday, July 7th. Most notable was Resurrection Band's final performance, to which I have dedicated an entire page.
I often consider Undercover my favorite band, and they were scheduled for a midnight show on Thursday (so, Friday morning, really.) After the Rez show, I went over to the stage where Undercover was to perform; it was about 10:30 p.m. I sat up close on the left, directly in front of a speaker. A band called Cush was to play before Undercover, but I thought I'd sit through their set in order to preserve my great view for Undercover. I had not heard of Cush before, and after 15 or 20 minutes of getting blasted out while some of them were tuning up, I told the guy next to me that I was going to sit in the back until Undercover came out. He said, "And miss the great view of Michael Knott?"
I pretty much swallowed my teeth: "Michael Knott?" I gasped. "Yeah," this guy said. "Cush is Michael Knott with the Prayer Chain." Needless to say, I did not move an inch from my seat....Mike Knott is an electrifying performer, as I found out that night. He has this chiseled face, like it should be part of Mt. Rushmore; jet black hair; piercing eyes. He rolls on the floor, leans out over the audience, but he's not a ham. He's just on his own plane. He's ethereal and down-to-earth at the same time.
It was also a privilege to see Undercover; I stood right under Joe Taylor, as he played dual keyboards (one was for the bass line.) I thought it was sort of funny that these four guys, who each have to be around 40, were doing some of their old minute-and-a-half old punk-type songs. You expect older guys to play long, drawn out blues songs or acoustic pieces. They, however, attacked their old material as if they were 15 to 20 years younger. I loved it.
After their set ended around 2 a.m., I quickly hurried back to camp to leave to drive home. I had to return to the Baltimore area to take my high school youth group on a mission trip to Mexico. We had to be at the airport by 7 a.m. on Saturday, July 8.
Having had to leave on Friday morning, I regret not having been able to see Larry Norman or the Supertones.
I gave away a few CD's on Monday and Tuesday, but I saved the bulk of the dispersal until Wednesday and Thursday. I believe that I gave away 1300 or 1400 at Cornerstone, but I'm not really sure. I enjoyed meeting people and talking with them (and being fed...thank you to the family who gave me breakfast on Thursday.) I also spent some time (the Rez concert and eating excellent steak) with Bill, Samantha, and Kyle (whom I had met at C-stone '96) and the rest of their family.